The Quilted Bear, a longtime restaurant and banquet hall at N111-W18611 Mequon Road in Germantown, closed unexpectedly early this week.

"The Quilted Bear is closed. We wish to thank you for your past patronage," the telephone recording at the restaurant said Friday. It also said messages wouldn't be returned. | Nov. 16, 2012»Read Full Blog Post(15)

Mary Kamps was driving through Estabrook Park in late summer and spotted the little house with the white pillars. She drives by often. But on this day she was inspired to stop.

“I had not been to see it for 20 years,” she said of the home, the oldest documented house in Milwaukee. “So I thought I’d stop and read the little sign and just take a look at the place.” | Nov. 16, 2012»Read Full Blog Post(5)

A Waukesha school may join the list of Les Paul-branded landmarks across the city.

Sue Baker, program director of the Les Paul Foundation, said she sent a request to School District of Waukesha Superintendent Todd Gray a couple of months ago to name a school after the Waukesha-born guitar icon. | Nov. 16, 2012»Read Full Blog Post(3)

At the beginning of the "King Lear" now on stage at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee - a collaboration with the Massachusetts-based Shakespeare & Company - naked scaffolding is wrapped in white sheets, shaped to suggest the classical facade of an ordered world.

During the ensuing three hours, that thin disguise will be torn asunder, piece by tattered piece - much as Lear himself is stripped of his clothes and illusions. | Nov. 16, 2012»Read Full Article

Five years ago, the Journal Sentinel began a tradition by offering readers the gift of art on Christmas Day. In the space normally reserved for the top news of the day, we present readers with a work of art by a Wisconsin artist.

I think of a Japanese izakaya as a casual place, a tavern with some snacky food to supplement drinks. That's not quite how I'd describe the stylish Kanpai, which means "cheers" in Japanese.

The Third Ward restaurant, which opened in the former Nanakusa space, made some changes to the room's décor, but it's still polished and modern. And so are the fusion small plates, meant to be shared. That's the izakaya side of it. But Kanpai also has a full sushi menu, with a dizzying number of rolls (50, by my quick count). | Nov. 16, 2012»Read Full Article(1)

Come dressed in your playclothes. Because Skylight Music Theatre's production of one of the most delightful musicals of all time, "The Sound of Music," is about to open, and we want you to join in its spirit. You all have permission to sing as you refresh your memories of this beloved musical with our "Sound of Music" primer in Weekend Cue. How many favorite things can you name?